Disaster mitigation and management

ICECD designs need based interventions that rebuild lives and Livelihoods to deal with disaster management for the affected people.

Livelihood options and drinking water restoration programme in earthquake affected areas – ICECD team initiated the interventions on rainwater harvesting in 20 villages of Surendranagar and Kutchchh districts in April, 2001. Providing livelihood options to the people of the two villages of Koyba in Halwad block of Surendranagar district and Lakhapar in Anjar taluka of Kutchchh district formed a part of the interventions.10 rainwater harvesting tanksconstructed in each of the villages helped to provide a “Demonstration Effect” through people’s participation and awareness creations. The tanks having a capacity of 8000 litres were constructed with the help of local masons as well as participation of beneficiaries.

ICECD supported by CARE-FICCI embarked upon a rehabilitation spree to revive the lives of those hit by the disastrous quake. The rehabilitation project was conducted in 11 villages of Anjar, Bachau and Rapar talukas of Kutchch. For smooth implementation of the project a field office was set up in Kotda Village, where a staff of 20 people worked round the clock.

Economic Rehabilitation – a) Offering livelihood options/skill based technology training – On an average, 200-500 houses needed to be reconstructed in each village. Hence training was imparted in various skills that were required to carry out the reconstruction work. Training in Carpentry, Electrification, Plumbing and Sanitation, Fabrication, RCC and Pre-Cast Construction was imparted through a 10-day programme.

Drinking Water Restoration Programme – Two teams of technically skilled workers of masonry persons and plumbers worked to improve access to drinking water in different locations along with developing physical structures for the same. Households using drinking water sources have been restored in 6 villages and access to water has gone a long way in normalising the lives of quake-affected families.

International Level Training Programmes – Developing Effective BDS – A 2 week programme on “Developing Effective BDS” was held focusing on providing skills and knowledge to design and manage BDS interventions at the centre’s Ahmedabad campus. Participants from India and Sri Lanka belonging to two different organisations worked on acquiring conceptual and practical understanding of varieties of BDS encompassing supply and demand driven interventions.